Vijay Hazare Trophy round-up: Jharkhand stare at elimination

A round-up of Vijay Hazare Trophy matches played across the country on Friday

Saurabh Tiwary's century went in vain as Jharkhand lost to Hyderabad by 21 runs, leaving them on the brink of elimination from the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-dayers, in Kolkata on Friday.

It was an off day for Jharkhand captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who struggled in his 47-ball 28 (4x3) before being bowled by left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan in their modest 204-run chase.

Cruising to his second century in three matches – his fourth overall in List A -- Saurabh slammed 102 from 104 balls. His knock was studded with seven sixes and five fours and Jharkhand needed 31 runs from 70 balls.

But Jharkhand collapsed after Saurabh was holed out to Chama Milind at third man in the 39th over. Jharkhand lost six wickets for 44 runs in a stunning collapse to fold for 182 in 44.4 overs.

Hasan claimed 3/40, while Ravi Kiran, Chama Milind and Akash Bhandari took two apiece as Hyderabad made a stunning turnaround to post their fourth win from as many matches.

Karnataka and Hyderabad have 16 points each.

Having lost two from five matches, Jharkhand (12 points) will now have to post a big win against Jammu and Kashmir at BengalCricketAcademy in Kalyani on March 6 to keep their hopes alive.

Earlier hundreds packed the ground located inside JU second campus and shouted 'Dhoni, Dhoni' who came in to bat after a familiar collapse left Jharkhand at 68/4 in 17.3 overs.

Dhoni survived a loud LBW appeal first ball against leg-spinner Akash Bhandari and built his innings slowly with Saurabh in full flow.

Before he could make it big Hasan bounced castled Dhoni to break the partnership for 70 runs that triggered the collapse.

Saurabh, however, remained unperturbed and counter-attacked Hasan slamming the left-arm spinner for three sixes and one boundary in the 37th over that yielded 23 runs.

In their innings, Hyderabad were restricted to 203/8 in the stipulated 50 overs as their batsmen struggled to get going on a slow and low wicket after they were sent in by Dhoni.

Sumanth Kolla (48) was Hyderabad's top-scorer, while Bavanaka Sandeep (43) lent fine support at the other end in an 82-run third wicket partnership.

But the duo could not convert their starts with Dhoni using his spinner Shahbaz Nadeem brilliantly. The left-armer not only broke the partnership but ran through the middle-order with his 3/27.

Meanwhile, Karnataka continued their winning streak and routed Jammu and Kashmir by seven wickets with 194 balls to spare to consolidate their position atop the standings and virtually qualify for the quarter-finals from group D.

Put in to bat, Jammu and Kashmir were shot out for 108 in 28.4 overs with rookie medium-pacer Prasidh Krishna returning with career-best figures of 4/15.

Karnataka chased down the target in 17.4 overs with IPL's Rs 2 crore pick, K Gowtham, slamming an unbeaten 57 from 46 balls (9x4, 1x6).

Brief scores:

At Jadavpur University Second Campus ground, Saltlake: Hyderabad 203/8 in 50 overs (Sumnath Kolla 48, Bavanaka Sandeep 43; Shahbaz Nadeem 3/27, Kaushal Singh 2/31) beat Jharkhand 182 in 44.4 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 102; Mehdi Hasan 3/40, Chama Milind 2/26, Akash Bhandari 2/28, Ravi Kiran 2/38) by 21 runs.

At Eden Gardens: Saurashtra 279/9 in 50 overs (Sheldon Jackson 73, Chirag Jani, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 50, Harvik Desai 48; Pankaj Rao 4/34) beat Chhattisgarh 187 in 44 overs (Manoj Singh 55; Prerak Mankad 3/37, Jaydev Unadkat 2/24, Kushang Patel 2/33) by 92 runs.

At Bengal Cricket Academy, Kalyani: Jammu and Kashmir 108 in 28.4 overs (Prasidh Krishna 4/15, Stuart Binny 2/30) lost to Karnataka 110/3 in 17.4 runs (K Gowtham 53 not out; Mohammad Mudhasir 3/53) by seven wickets.

Harbhajan grabs 4 to keep Punjab in quarters hunt

Skipper Harbhajan Singh led from the front with figures of four for 33 as Punjab beat Haryana by five wickets in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group A encounter in New Delhi on Friday.

This is Punjab's third win in five games which keeps them in hunt for quarter-finals from this group.

Batting first, Haryana could score only 194 as Harbhajan's three wicket burst left them reeling at 127 for 5 from a relatively comfortable 75 for 1.

Punjab got the runs in 41.4 overs with Gurkeerat Singh Mann again anchoring the chase with an unbeaten 91 off 86 balls studded with 14 boundaries.

Chaitanya Bishnoi (38) got an off break while Shivam Chauhan (1) was done in by a straighter one. Rahul Dagar failed to read Harbhajan's straighter one.

His final wicket was former India teammate Joginder Sharma (0) caught plumb in front without troubling the scorers.

Harbhajan's final figures read 10-1-33-4.

Punjab were also in trouble at one stage with 75 for four as Yuvraj Singh (8) was cleaned up by Harshal Patel as he was beaten for pace.

But Gurkeerat kept his cool during the chase and it was a comfortable win in the end.

"It was good to get a four-wicket haul. The tournament has gone well for me so far as I have been economical in four of the five games. Hopefully we can beat Odisha and qualify for the knockouts," Harbhajan said after the match.

Brief Scores:

Haryana: 191 all out (Nitin Saini 48, Rahul Tewatia 34; Harbhajan Singh 4/33).

Punjab: 200/5 in 41.4 (Gurkeerat Singh Mann 91 not out).

Summarised scores of other Group A matches:

Assam beat Railways by 4 wickets: Railways 215 all out in 48.3 overs (Aakash Verma 55;

Arup Das 3/36) lost to Assam: 216 for 6 in 48.0 overs (Pallavkumar Das 45, KB Arun Karthik 42; Ashish Yadav 3/26).

Vidarbha beat Odisha by 7 wickets: Odisha: 162 all out in 45.3 overs (Govinda Poddar 59;

Akshay Karnewar 4/21) lost to Vidarbha: 163 for 3 in 40.1 overs (Jitesh Sharma 70; RP

Patel 2/32).

Pant's 99 sets up Delhi win over Tripura

Rishabh Pant struck a brilliant 72-ball 99 to help Delhi thrash Tripura by 70 runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group B one-day match in Cuttack on Friday.

Put into bat, Delhi plundered 356 for 5 from their allotted 50 overs with Pant hitting nine fours and five sixes in his aggressive innings.

Dhruv Shorey (74 off 81) and Milind Kumar (72 off 48) also made significant contributions to push Delhi past 350 at the Barabati Stadium.

Shikhar Dhawan (18) and Gautam Gambhir (37) had added a 59-run opening stand to set a strong platform for Delhi.

An unbeaten century from Yashpal Singh, 115 off 117 balls, kept Tripura in the hunt for the majority of the chase, but the middle and lower order failed to contribute much as Delhi's bowlers kept taking wickets.

Opener Bishal Ghosh, who struck 59 off 68 balls, was the other main contributor for Tripura.

In the end, Tripura fell 70 runs short after finishing with 286 for 8. Fast bowler Suboth Bhati took three wickets for Delhi.

In another Group B match at DRIEMS Ground, Tangi in Cuttack, Uttar Pradesh beat Maharashtra by 104 runs. The result snapped Maharashtra's unbeaten run in the competition.      A 249-run opening stand between Prashant Gupta and Shivam Chaudhary helped Uttar Pradesh put on 370 for 5. Gupta hammered 12 fours and four sixes in his 117-ball 129, while Chaudhary struck 116 off 115 balls.

Brisk contributions from Eklavya Dwivedi (33 off 27 balls) and Rinku Singh (37 off 15 balls) resulted in Uttar Pradesh hitting 64 runs in the last five overs.

Fifties from Kedar Jadhav (68), Ruturaj Gaikwad (59) and Rahul Tripathi (57) gave Maharashtra hope in their chase, but leg-spinner Piyush Chawla's 5 for 50 closed the game out for Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile in Bhubaneshwar, Dinesh Karthik and B Aparajith struck quickfire fifties to help Tamil Nadu beat Kerala by six wickets.

Karthik struck 15 fours in his 68-ball 88, while Aparajith was more sedate, taking 91 balls to accumulate 74. The pair added 145 runs in 135 balls.

Tamil Nadu raced to their target of 231 with 64 balls remaining. Fast bowler Sandeep Warrier picked up all four wickets to fall.